"What matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And without the love of Jesus, everything else is useless." St. John Paul II

++++++++++++++++++++God's timing is not our timing, but He is never late.++++++++++++++++++++

Layers - in the knowledge of God and the path to holiness

Learning about God is like unwrapping a head of lettuce, pealing back one leaf at a time. Always there is another leaf below. We will eventually reach the center of the head of lettuce; but we will never unwrap everthing there is to know about God.

The path to holiness is like pealing an onion. God shows us what is sinful and convicts us that we have sinned. No matter how sweet the onion, there are always tears in the peeling. No matter how sweet the grace of repentence, there are always the pain of letting go of the sin. As the peeling of the onion reveals another layer, so God shows us what we lack in holiness, drawing us ever closer to "be(ing) perfect even just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48

What I Believe

Why I am and always will be a Catholic. "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Tthe living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." John 6:53-58 The words and actions of man cannot sanctify. Only the priest, empowered by his ordination, can invoke the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine into Jesus so we can receive Him - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity into our bodies and souls. This is the core of the Catholic Church; without this there is no purpose or meaning to the Catholic Church. There are other ways to holiness, to grow in grace; there is no better way than union with Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Visitation Catholic Church

Friday, April 9, 2010

Real Presence

How is Jesus present in the Eucharist? Some believe He isn’t. Some believe that He is there only during worship. Some believe that His presence is there only if the person receiving believes He is there. The Church believes and teaches that at the moment of consecration, when the priest (regardless of his worthiness) invokes the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine is transformed into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, permanently. This is why we are able to have chapels where we can adore Jesus and talk to Him “face to face.” His presence is not dependent on our spirituality. If two people were in an adoration chapel, one believing in the Real Presence and one not, Jesus would be there for both, physically. The adoration chapels are only an offshoot of the true purpose of the Eucharist. Jesus did not mean the Eucharist for us to gaze on and adore Him. The reason for His Presence in the Eucharist is so we have a way to be nourished spiritually. The Eucharist is compared to the manna in the desert - our daily bread, if we so desire. The Eucharist is a physical assurance. When we receive the Eucharist in Communion, we have received Jesus into our bodies. How our souls receive Him depends on our souls, the sin we have committed that block up the doors and window of our souls. We receive Jesus into our bodies; bur our sins can block Him from nourishing our souls with His graces. Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 11:27 “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” Not only do we block the graces of the Eucharist, but we also are guilty of profanity against the Lord.

No comments:

My Blog List

About Me

My life revolves around my relationship with Jesus,(with a strong belief in Jesus present in the Eucharist), my family, the world. By the grace of God, I'm married to John, my best friend, and the mother of 4 intelligent and talented daughters.

unPlanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey across the Life Line, by Abby Johnson

The Hand of God-autobiography of Bernard Nathanson and his journey from abortionist to pro-life.

Adoration Chapel-Visitation Church

+JESUS, THE EUCHARIST+ “I AM THE LIVING BREAD THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN; WHOEVER EATS THIS BREAD WILL LIVE FOREVER; AND THE BREAD THAT I WILL GIVE IS MY FLESH FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD." John 6:51 ++++++++++++++++++ "The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on earth. Each moment you spend with Jesus will deepen your union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven, and will help bring everlasting peace on earth." Mother Teresa

The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist

When I walk into the chapel and go down on bended knees, what do I see? What do I recognize? My eyes tell my mind that upon the altar is a white piece of unleavened bread. Faith tells my mind that what my eyes see as bread is really Jesus. The mind struggles with the incongruity. It does not want to accept a different reality than what the eye sees and experience has taught. It cannot expand to intellectually understand how it could be possible. Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist is not rational. It goes against what the senses tell us and what the mind says is possible. The human mind tries to understand God. There are those who say that it cannot be possible and thus put limits on what God can do. If we can, however, say that it is possible for Jesus to assume human form in the Incarnation, then can we say that He cannot transform bread into Himself? It is really a smaller step to accept Jesus in the Eucharist than the Incarnation. The mind struggles. It is easier to accept the Incarnation because Jesus took a form the mind can accept. God looking like a man, being a man is something the mind through the senses can accept, because the mind can understand Jesus in His humanity even if it cannot comprehend all that is God. Jesus being the Eucharist eliminates what the senses can comprehend. Our senses cannot tell us that this is Jesus whether in His divinity or His humanity. Where the apostles saw the human Jesus and in faith needed to recognize His divinity, we are asked to recognize in faith both His humanity and divinity in the Eucharist. “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24

Pope John Paul II - In My Own Words complied and edited by Anthony F. Chiffolo

PRAYER

+"Christ remains primary in your life only when he enjoys the first place in your mind and heart. Thus you must continuously unite yourself to him in prayer...Without prayer there can be no joy, no hope, no peace. For prayer is what keeps us in touch with Christ." Message to Religious Women, Washington, D.C., 1979

SALVATION

+"No human sin can erase the mercy of God, or prevent him from unleasing all his triumphant power, if we only call upon him." Veritas Splendor

+"The power of Christ's Cross and Resurrection is greater than any evil which man could or should fear." Crossing the Threshold of Hope

TRUTH AND FREEDOM

+"Although each individual has a right to be respected in his own journey in search of the truth, there exists a prior moral obligation, and a grave one at that, to seek the truth and to adhere to it once it is known." Veritatis Splendor

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

+"True holiness does not mean a flight from the world; rather, it lies in the effort to incarnate the Gospel in everyday life, in the family, at school and at work, and in social and political involvement." To Catholic Charismatics, 1996

THE CHURCH

+"If there is one challenge facing the Church and her priests today, it is the challenge of transmitting the Christian message whole and entire, without letting it be emptied of its substance. The Gospel cannot be reduced to mere human wisdom. Salvation lies not in clever human words or schemes, but in the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ." Address at Vespers, St. Jospeh's Seminary, 1995

THE SACRAMENTS

+"In the Eucharist, the Son, who is of one being with the Father, the one whom only the Father knows, offers himself in sacrifice to the Father for humanity and for all creation. In the Eucharist Christ gives back to the Father everything that has come from him. Thus there is brought about a profound 'mystery of justice on the part of the creature towards the Creator.' Man needs to honor his Creator by offering to him, in an act of thanksgiving and praise, all that he has received. 'Man must never lose sight of this debt,,' which he alone, among all other earthly realities, is capable of acknowledging and paying back as the one creature made in God's own image and likeness. At the same time, given his creaturely limitations and sinful condition, man would be incapable of making this act of justice towards the Creator, had not Christ himself, the Son who is of one being with the Father and also true man, first given us the Eucharist." Gift and Mystery

"I LEAVE YOU now with this prayer: that the Lord Jesus will reveal himself to each one of you, that he will give you the strength to go out and profess that you are Christian, that he will show you that he alone can fill your hearts. Accept his freedom and embrace his truth, and be messengers of the certainty that you have been truly liberated through the death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. This will be the new experience, the powerful experience, that will generate, through you, a more just society and a better world. God bless you and may the joy of Jesus be always with you!" Message to Students, the Catholic University, 1979